Paper Title
A Path towards Creation of Blast Disease Resistant Rice - Genetic Diversity Analysis

Abstract
Rice being one of the most important cereal crops holds the second prominent position in global agriculture. In India it is grown over an area of 44 million hectares with the production of 104.32 million tons and productivity levels 2372 kg h1.With everyday increase in population, adverse climatic changes and new pathogen and pest activities, the rice breeders are facing great challenges to meet the demands. Worldwide rice is affected by most devastating Blast disease caused by Magnaporthe grisea. Although chemical control is often found to be successful, this adds to the cost of cultivation and also contaminates the environment. To address this problem the genetic diversity analysis and evaluation of blast resistant genes in rice with the help of SSR molecular markers was conducted. The use of rice genetic resources available at the Rice Research Laboratory can be used to incorporate the genetic variability in rice breeding programme.This will allow new cultivars with broadened genetic basis to create new and useful allelic combination. Development of crosses can be used to broaden the genetic basis of rice and promote the preservation of rare alleles which and be incorporated into elite germplasm.Domestication of crops restrict the crop improvement by limiting the range of valuable traits used in modern plant breeding. The assessment of genetic diversity allows germplasm characterization and conservation. Wild species can improve germplasm but create problems due to reproductive isolation. Rice crop suffers from yield plateau due to narrow genetic base. Samba mahsuria popular rice variety among farmers and consumers due to properties like high yield, fine grain type, and good cooking and consumption quality can be used to improve traits like biotic and abiotic stress and tolerance. Genetic variability is used in crop improvement program .In this present study 19 advanced breeding lines were selected for diversity analysis among rice varieties.